A copper-red 'three fish' bowl. Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period. Photo Bonhams

The exterior decorated with three evenly-spaced fish in rich copper-red thinning at the top and pooling at the bottom, the interior glazed white. 22.8cm (8 7/8in) diam. Estimate: £60,000 - 100,000, CNY 590,000 - 990,000, HK$ 720,000 - 1,200,000

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 17 December 1996, lot 90
The Inder Rieden Collection

It is particularly rare to find bowls of this design in this relatively large size. However, a pair of bowls from the E.T.Chow Collection (each 22.5cm diameter) was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 115. Another, measuring 22.6cm diameter, in the Nanjing Museum is illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.162. Another similar bowl was sold in these rooms on 11 November 2010, lot 317.

For the Ming prototype of this bowl, see the Xuande-marked example illustrated in Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, Catalogue no.75.

A copper-red 'three fish' bowl. Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period. Photo Bonhams

Delicately and boldly painted on the exterior with three evenly-spaced fish in underglaze copper-red of a pale raspberry tone, the interior plain. 15.2cm (6in) diam. Estimate: £40,000 - 60,000, CNY 400,000 - 590,000, HK$ 480,000 - 720,000

Provenance: Christie's London, 11 July 2006, lot 138
The Inder Rieden Collection

Compare a very similar bowl illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.IV (II), London, 1994, no.1718. Similar bowls, usually varying between 12cm and 15cm in diameter, have been sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 April 2004, lot 303; Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 632; and Christie's Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 676.

A pair of copper-red 'three fish' dishes. Yongzheng six-character marks and of the period. Photo Bonhams

The shallow rounded sides decorated to the exterior with three opaque copper-red carp, the interior glazed white. 15cm (5 7/8in) diam. (2). Estimate: £20,000 - 30,000, CNY 200,000 - 300,000, HK$ 240,000 - 360,000

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 26 November 1980, lot 317
Sotheby's London, 7 June 1994, lot 373
The Inder Rieden Collection

For a pair of very similar dishes, see R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.IV (II), London, 1994, no.1719.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 10 Nov 2011, New Bond Street www.bonhams.com